Renewable Energy: The Game Changer.

The energy sector contributes the largest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Burning of oil, coal and gas is pushing our Earth in deeper ecological debt than ever before. Most people are under the assumption that we can just go on looking for more fossil fuel reserves- mine and dig till there is nothing left. But advocating something like this would have devastating and irreversible impacts on our biodiversity.

The topic of our looming energy crisis although daunting, does have a solution. Renewable energy comprises of solar, wind, hydro-power, geothermal, bioenergy and ocean energy. These sources are available this very moment around us and can provide the answer to all of our energy needs. Did you know that the Sun provides enough energy in one hour to provide all of our energy demands for a whole year? The untapped potential of these resources is infinite, however the main question that lies before us is how to harness this energy and utilise it for all our needs.

Although renewable energy is taking off in a big way- mainly due to rising fuel costs, a drop in costs of technology and carbon pricing, there are a lot of political and practical barriers blocking them from reaching their full potential. The political consensus on the matter is different for each nation across the world. Needless to say, the countries taking the lead in this regard and not sinking in climate change denial, will soon find themselves at a significant advantage over the rest. Think Iceland, Germany, Denmark or Spain. Don't get me wrong, there are much smaller and weaker nations too who have taken up renewable energy and can put the G20 to shame. Take Bhutan for example. Not only are 97% of its commercial activities fuelled by hydroelectricity, the entire backbone of the country's economy is based on exporting renewable energy. Producing much more energy than it needs, Bhutan exports close to 75% of its power generation to India.

The advantages of adopting renewable energy are endless. Electricity generation in Australia, which is mainly done through the burning of coal, accounts for about 37% of the country’s emissions. In contrast, renewable sources produce little to nil greenhouse gas emissions- this is after accounting for their entire lifecycle processes such as manufacturing, operations, maintenance and so on. The inexhaustible nature of these resources can provide us with the security of having enough energy to sustain our needs many times over. Furthermore, there are also economic benefits involved. In contrast to the fossil fuel industry which is primarily mechanized, the renewable energy industry has the potential to create much more jobs for communities since it is more labour intensive. Besides the initial investment required to build renewable facilities, their actual operations can be done at a very low cost. Thus they can offer affordable energy and stable energy prices over a period of time. However, governments have a major role to play in this regard. It is imperative that they provide the necessary incentives needed for a mass up-take of renewable energy technologies.

Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind can also help build a more resilient energy system. This is because the distributed systems are spread out over such large geographical areas, that electrical failures due to bad weather in one region will not lead to power failure in another. In addition, these two sources require basically no water to run their facilities, reducing the risk of water pollution and health risks that are otherwise associated with coal mining and natural gas drilling. The health benefits that come with adopting renewable energy include lower risks of lung cancer, cardiac dangers, allergies and many more. What’s not to love?

Renewable energy is the answer. Whether it's the energy crisis, whether it's reducing our collective ecological footprint, whether it's improving the quality of the environment we live in or whether it's a strategy to meet a nation's emission targets. The barriers blocking the effective implementation of achieving the energy efficiency renewables offer, are largely political and not technological. Nevertheless, let that not stop you as an individual, community or a business to utilise the benefits that come with adopting them. Let's not make renewable energy a lost opportunity and have the environmental vision to secure a greener future for us and our future generations!

IPCC Report Condensed in Pictures!

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the first instalment of its 5th assessment report last year. I'm sure I wasn't the only environmental student who felt particularly panicky when our teacher asked us to go through the summary of this intimidating report. While the report was 2000 pages long, even the summary was rather extensive and made my brain a bit fuzzy. I was therefore very pleased when I bumped across this work of art from a man by the name of Greg Johnson who brilliantly condensed the complicated IPCC report into images and poetic lines.

If you wish to gain a glimpse of the current state of knowledge in climate change, this is the easiest way to do so-

http://daily.sightline.org/2013/12/16/the-entire-ipcc-report-in-19-illustrated-haiku/

The Three R's of the Environment.

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

If you have the facilities, please recycle. Landfill spaces are running out at an alarming rate. Not only that, they are flowing into water bodies and destroying precious aquatic ecosystems. A vast majority of the waste in landfills is biodegradable. As this waste slowly decomposes, it releases the most harmful gases- methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which adds to global warming.

So, don't get lazy about throwing that coffee cup in the right bin...you don't want this happening in the near future, do you? -

Sustainability rising- the 'Third-Wave' organisations.

What I find most interesting about corporate sustainability is that since it is something that is currently evolving we can actually see the different stages the corporations are in, in terms of how they are responding to this challenge. There is quite a significant proportion of them who are still in plain denial of climate change and the fact that sooner rather than later, they will need to change to continue thriving in the market. Some of the key drivers demanding this change is-

• Resource scarcity- Production of goods needs resources. If companies continue to treat environmental resources as free goods open to exploitation, they will find themselves in a situation where they will be forced to cut down and use substitutes since there will be no resources left to exploit. You will be surprised as to how many companies are relatively myopic in this respect.

• Stakeholder pressure- Increasingly, stakeholders are treating sustainable organisations as ones with a low risk element and unsustainable organisations as otherwise. It only makes sense. With a higher rate of consumer awareness and government interventions, why will an investor want to invest in a company which is not willing to keep up with the times? Isn't proactive organisational change one of the key drivers to success? 

• Consumer awareness and reputation risks- There have been some disastrous episodes in the past where a company has been irresponsible towards its environmental and social responsibilities and has had to face the music in the form of widespread protests and a slap to its reputation. One of the most prominent examples being BP's oil spill in 2010. The environmental, social and economic consequences of the spill are so widespread that it is impossible to ever repair the damage. BP has already spent hefty amounts of money on settlements and has had to spend even more money to try re-build their reputation. One of the measures included changing the company's logo to one which symbolizes their new and improved "green" values. It's hard to say exactly how many consumers they have managed to convince. 

BP's logo- Before and after.

• Government intervention- Developed nations have definitely taken the lead in trying to regulate the environmental and social impact of companies. Developing nations are not far behind though. After years of draining and polluting water supplies in India, Coca-cola's plants across several locations have been shut down. Local communities including farmers have on numerous occasions accused the company of presenting false and misleading environmental assessments to carry on business-as-usual. Increased consumer awareness is forcing companies to re-think their strategy and be careful regarding sloppy usage of resources. 

So how are companies reacting to these drivers of change? (Dunphy et al., 2007) summarised this very efficiently in this diagram-

As depicted in the diagram, the 'Third Wave' organisations are the ones to watch out for. They are using sustainability not just as a means of 'greenwashing' or regulatory compliance or mere reputation building, but are actively integrating sustainability in how they operate and using it as a means of how they define themselves.

Go Lite is a company that comes to mind. By using environmentally friendly materials in their products such as recycled polyester and nylon, it aims to mitigate almost 100% of its environmental impact (http://www.golite.com/Info/Values/Sustainability.aspx). Patagonia has a similar approach of using recyclable materials. Perhaps the one campaign that defined Patagonia's unique business model was this ad-

At first glance you would think that this company is suicidal. How will they sustain themselves if they are actually discouraging consumers to frequently come back and purchase their products? Nevertheless, you'd be surprised as to how much this campaign caught on. It was certainly eye-catching- it had the shock factor to it. Additionally, it intrigued consumers. Here is a company that is boldly discouraging the consumerism culture. Word got around and eventually there was a significant section of their target market that actually admired the company's values and were motivated to express how the ad changed their attitudes- http://wornwear.patagonia.com/.

So here is a legitimately honest pursuit of conducting business in the right way. I am hopeful that they have inspired other companies to adopt similar business models. Although the untraditional approach may seem unnerving to some, it will do companies good to realize that being the first to jump in the 'Third-Wave' bandwagon has its advantages too. This poster should certainly serve as motivation!-

The Pale Blue Dot.

I always like to re-visit this video, which puts things into perspective so gently and yet so powerfully. This photo of Earth shown in the video was taken by the Voyager 1 in 1990, from a distance of approx. 6 billion kms. Subsequent to completing its mission and leaving the solar system, the Voyager was made to turn around by NASA upon the request of the legendary astrophysicist Carl Sagan, to take this picture of Earth against the backdrop of the infinite vastness of space.

The audio is from Carl Sagan's book the 'Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space'.

"The Earth is the only world known so far to harbour life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
You can read his full speech here-https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1816628-a-pale-blue-dot

Truly humbling-

A Long Overdue Epiphany- Changes That Can No Longer Be Procrastinated.

This being my first ever post, I would like to give a little backdrop of who I am, how I landed up choosing the environmental profession and what my personal standpoint on the subject is.

Choosing to do a post-graduation in 'Corporate Environmental and Sustainability Management' was certainly not a natural progression in my academic journey. I had completed a Bachelor's of Science previously, with a major in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics. As impressive as that sounds (or it might not to you, if you happen to be an engineer) I longed to choose a career which gave me returns on not only the bottom two levels of the Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs but also the highest two-levels on that pyramid- esteem needs and self-actualization. That is exactly what appealed to me about a career in environment and sustainability management. Although I am just starting out, I am certain that a career dedicated towards unlocking the true potential of doing things sustainably and hence strategically, will give me a sense of accomplishment for being a part of the change that can only be termed as inevitable.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 

Which brings us to what exactly is this change that I want to talk about? The most frequently used definition of Sustainable Development is the one put forth by the Brundtland Commission in 1987- "Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Even though the concept itself has existed since decades, its significance has never been higher than it is now. Our ability to sustain our life on Earth has never been more vulnerable. 

The energy crisis, the endangerment of various species, rising sea-levels, depletion of natural resources, food and water shortages- the list of ongoing environmental debates is endless. What makes the debate so complicated is its multi-faceted nature. The pre-dominant environmental crises has many, far-reaching social and economic implications. Rising sea-levels may strike someone sitting in California as a mere statistic, however people in island nations such as Kiribati and Maldives wake up every day wondering how secure their future is because of this very phenomenon. Often we find that governments of nations, across the globe, find it daunting or even conflicting to tackle them head-on. The primary reason for it being that it is believed that environmental interests cannot be pursued until and unless huge economic sacrifices are made. This is true, only to a certain extent. While sustainable living presents us with sizeable challenges, it also presents us with opportunities. I do believe that we cannot sustain our current lifestyle without making substantial changes- changes that can be considered sustainable. Nevertheless these changes are achievable through a gradual shift from the pre-dominant economic-paradigm, towards the 'New-Ecological Paradigm' (NEP). The term NEP was first coined by Dunlap and Catton to endorse the necessity of taking environmental variables into full account.

This necessary departure from our current economic paradigm can only be achieved through efforts made by governments as well as corporations. While rigorous environmental regulation by governments can be considered as the most efficient method for doing so, convincing them to do the same is an infinitely complicated matter which I can only elaborate on over my next few posts (geopolitics of climate change a.k.a passing the parcel unlimited!). Thus corporate sustainability, remains our only other option. It cannot be denied that unsustainable business models and a lack of a cradle-to-grave analysis of business activities has caused most of our environmental crises currently. It thus only makes sense to not only refine but redesign our business activities through the principles of corporate environmental and sustainability management. Many companies are already recognising the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and moving away from their business-as-usual activities. Needless to say, the degrees to the extent each one of them is willing to go, does vary. However the first step is the most important step!

Aaand so hopefully I have given you a tiny snapshot of the type of discussions that will be featured on this blog. Although I have come across many blogs that are centred around green talks, I never felt there were enough when compared to how imperative they are. Thus this is my tiny contribution towards starting a healthy discussion on the environmental challenges we currently face, how we are currently tackling them and how we can tackle them even better. Although my area of expertise revolves around environmental management issues in the business context, my interests encompass a wide variety of environmental issues and I will attempt to write about them from time to time. Do drop in :)

In the meanwhile please follow me on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=322336411&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile. I am SO new and unfamiliar with this segment of social media, I need more connections to get the ball rolling!

Cheers

Ishita